How To Tame A Skylark
by Wayra
Summary: There's many ways to tame a skylark, or at least that's what they say. Can Tsuna do such a feat? Or will he just wind up getting pecked "to death."
1. Prologue

**Warning:** There's BL in this. You don't like it, don't read it.

**Pairings:** Hmm...I dunno. Kufufufu...-stares at the title-

**Author's note:** It's been a while since I've written for fun, so if you guys see anything that sounds weird or looks odd in the story, don't hesitate to tell me! It helps me better my writing. x3

* * *

Tsuna yawned, stretching widely as he looked out his window. Today looked like it was going to be another beautiful day--or at least that's what he wanted to believe before a small foot connected with the side of his cranium.

"GAAAH!" he screamed, falling face first on his hard wooden floor.

"Hm? Oh, you were already awake," he heard Reborn mutter, his tone completely bored.

"Of course I was awake, Reborn!" Tsuna barked, slowly getting off the floor and rubbing his aching nose. Why couldn't little hitman just ask if he was awake instead of using such violent methods to get him up? Honestly, Reborn could be so scary.

Reborn completely ignored him. "You have ten minutes to get to school, No-Good-Tsuna."

"I know I have an hour, Reborn. You don't need to--WHAAA?!" Tsuna's eyes widened in horror. "Only ten minutes?!"

Reborn nodded, an evil smirk appearing on his face. Well, it wasn't evil persay, but to Tsuna whenever the little hitman smiled at anything, disaster was sure to follow.

Without a second thought, Tsuna ran to his closet, grabbed his uniform, and quickly began stripping. "Reborn why didn't you wake me up?! And where's my mom?"

"Nana went to the store."

"And Lambo and I-Pin?"

"The same place."

"Bianchi?" Tsuna said, feeling disappointment welling in his chest. There goes his good day. It was amazing how efficient Reborn was at killing whatever joy he had…even early in the morning.

"Do I really need to say?"

Tsuna sighed, buttoning up his shirt and putting his vest over his head. Why was he wasting time talking to Reborn? It wasn't as if he was going to get an answer after all. "Did Gokudera and Yamamoto come by? They usually do that…"

"They did."

Tsuna quickly grabbed his backpack and began heading towards his door. He knew he really needed to leave. Really, REALLY needed to leave, but he had so many questions he wanted to ask Reborn, so many questions he was sure wasn't going to get answered…but still… "Well…um…are they still there?"

"Nope, sent them on their way. I told them you were sick."

"Hiiiii! Reborn!" Tsuna wailed, holding his head. So he was alone?! He was going to be late and it was all because Reborn was being a wicked today!

"You have five minutes to get to school now. Good luck, Tsuna." Reborn smirked, tilting his hat a bit so his eyes couldn't be seen. "A real Mafia boss knows how to get to places on time, especially since their lives could depend on it."

"HIIII!" Tsuna cried as he ran out of his room and stumbled down the stairs in record time. He had fear on his mind right now, and his adrenaline was pumping as if he needed to race against time to escape doom. He might as well be doing that…since lateness was not tolerated at Namimori Middle School.

_It wasn't the teachers or the principle that scared him…_

Busting out his front door, Tsuna took off down the sidewalk with as much speed as his small, skinny legs could muster.

_No, it wasn't the principle or the teachers at all…_

"I can make it! I can make it!" Tsuna told himself over and over again…though deep down inside, he knew there was no way he could make it to school on time, not with his track record. Of course, it never heard to hope did it? Who knows? Maybe, just maybe…he could indeed make it…


	2. Chapter One

**Warnings:** There's BL in this! So, if you don't like that, then don't read. It's that simple really. o.O

**Pairings: **1827, one-sided 5927 (orz, forgive me Gokudera-kun! v.v)

**Author's note: **Lawl, I still have no idea where this is going. Soooo, I'll just have to type, type, type, until something sticks. Or...I can just brainstorm. That would like...shorten things out better I think...-starts rambling and then gets knocked into a coma by a pair of tonfas-

**

* * *

****Chapter One**

Apparently, the heavens were not smiling down on Tsuna at that moment. Either that or he was just blessed with insanely bad luck. No matter how you looked at it, it seemed he was truly doomed. The moment he heard the bell ring when he stepped into Namimori, was the moment his life ended.

"Why Reborn…why?" he said to himself, biting back tears he really wanted to spill. Out of all the days to torture him, Reborn just HAD to choose that one. It was bad enough that Mukuro had went and messed with him with that Alice in Wonderland bootleg dream…but this was just too much for him! Reborn didn't even give him proper time to calm down after that whole ordeal.

_"No-Good-Tsuna, it was just a dream. I don't see why you're so worked up over it," he remembered the baby saying._

_"B-B-But it seemed so real! I was really getting hurt, Reborn!"_

_"Dreams do that, Tsuna."_

_"But…!"_

_"Anyway, your homework isn't going to do itself now is it?" Reborn replied, Leon turning into a pistol as he pointed the chameleon at Tsuna's head._

_"HIII!" Tsuna screamed, going back to trying to work out the word problem._

Tsuna shuddered at the memory. A normal person would have been forever traumatized by their experience with Reborn, but apparently, he didn't have time or a chance to really get traumatized too much. He shuddered again, wrapping his arms around himself. What was worse was that it was cold today. He didn't get a chance to check the temperature as usual due to the fact that Reborn decided to wake him up late for some bizarre Boss training drill…that he ended up failing.

With a sigh, Tsuna simply decided to lean against a tree and wait for his imminent death. There was no point in hiding. Hibari was like a wolf stalking its prey. He always got you in the end. Ah well…at least he had tried.

When he looked up at the sky and saw a small yellow bird fly off to the roof, he knew that it was too late to do much of anything. Hibird was most definitely going to rat him out.

"TENTH!"

Tsuna tensed. Oh heavens no!

"Tenth, what are you doing just standing out here?" Gokudera asked as he ran up to Tsuna, looking very worried. "You should be going to class now."

"W-What about you, Gokudera-kun? Um…Reborn told me you went to school earlier…"

Gokudera beamed, his stormy green eyes twinkling. "I did!"

Tsuna sweatdropped. If Gokudera had gone to school earlier…why was he standing here right now, talking to him as if he hadn't even attempted to go? "Uh…why are you here then?"

"I couldn't just leave you, Tenth! So I waited for you and followed you to school to make sure you'd be all right! I wasn't planning on showing myself righ now, but you were just standing here so I wanted to see what was wrong." Gokudera looked so insanely pleased with this declaration, that it made Tsuna a little uncomfortable to know that he had been stalked on his way to school. The silver haired boy's dedication to him both scared him, and made him happy at the same time. Such conflicting emotions…

"Ah…I…see. Well that's nice, Gokudera-kun! Thank you, for worrying about me, but um…you can go inside without me."

"Hm? Why?"

"Um…because I…have something I need to do."

"Well, then I can wait for the Tenth!" Gokudera beamed.

Tsuna sighed. Gokudera didn't seem to mind that Hibari was probably on his way as they both stood their. Speaking of which… "I wonder where Hibari-san is?"

"Eh? Che, who cares about that fucking bastard? He's probably asleep or something."

Tsuna looked up at the roof where Hibird had flown off and frowned. Hibari had to know that he was late, there's no doubt about that. Prehaps today the boy was too tired to come after him and deal with Gokudera? Yes…that must have been the case. However, if that wasn't…and he were to just leave--Tsuna shuddered.

"Oi, Tenth, are you cold?" Gokudera said gently. "We should go inside now. We're probably going to get a lecture from the teacher for being late, but I'm all right with that as long as the Tenth is warm."

For some reason, Gokudera's words made Tsuna feel happy inside. It was so nice to know that the boy was willing to go to the ends of the earth for him, especially since most people didn't care about him at all. "Ah…yes, let's go, Gokudera-kun."

With one last look at the roof, Tsuna followed Gokudera inside the school. However, a question was still nagging him. Why hadn't Hibari attacked? Was he really sleeping? But…he was a light sleeper so the bell should have woken him up. Was he sick? It was a little chilly outside after all, a good indication that it was going to snow sometime that week…

"Gokudera-kun…um…where's Yamamoto?"

"Che, I sent that baseball idiot ahead of me. He was getting on my nerves."

Tsuna sighed. As he thought. Gokudera really didn't like Yamamoto…though he honestly could not put his finger on why. If one good thing came out of today, at least Yamamoto wouldn't get in trouble too. "I really am surprised that Hibari has--HIII!"

Gokudera stopped, glaring coldly at Kusakabe who was standing a few feet ahead of them with his trademark hair shining in the sunlight from the windows. "What do you want?"

"Gokudera Hayato, and Sawada Tsunayoshi, correct?"

Tsuna was so tempted to just scream that he was someone else, but Gokudera was quick to the punch.

"That's right. What do you want?" Gokudera growled, his eyes narrowing and his hand slipping inside his shirt.

"G-Gokudera-kun!" Tsuna grabbed his hand. He couldn't fight in here! The school would get destroyed and Hibari really WOULD kill them.

"Nothing in particular," Kusakabe said nonchalantly as he walked passed them without another word.

"Um…Kusakabe-san…" Tsuna began. The older boy instantly stopped. "Do you know where Hibari-san, is?"

"Why would you wish to know, Sawada?"

"Erm…" Tsuna hesitated. If he said something about his tardiness, Kusakabe might just call him right there! However…it was odd that the man was leaving them alone, knowing that the both of them were late.

Kusakabe waited patiently, a sure sign that he wasn't going anytime soon until he got some kind of answer. With a sigh, Tsuna continued. "No reason really. I um…was just worried. Ah…if you see Hibari-san, could you tell him I'm sorry?"

Kusakabe looked over his shoulder, but didn't ask why Tsuna wanted such a strange message delivered. Perhaps the man understood what he was trying to say? That or he probably was just humoring him, knowing that no matter what his fate was still practically sealed. "Very well. You two should hurry to class. You're seven minutes late."

"Ah, yes of course. Thank you very much, Kusakabe-san!" Tsuna said, bowing politely.

The older boy nodded, and then continued his trek down the hallway.

"Gokudera-kun…do you think we'll make it through the day?" Tsuna asked.

"Of course, Tenth! I'll make sure you're just fine!"

Tsuna sighed. He was talking about the BOTH of them, but as usual, Gokudera sort of ignored his real message. As they continued down the hallway to their classroom, that question still continued to nag him. Will they really make it through the day?

* * *

Whew, well that's it for now. So, what do you guys think, eh? -nudge, nudge- AH! And I put in a little tidbit from my last fanfic in there. XD It was about Tsuna having a dream that was like Alice in Wonderland...but like Mukuro made it twice as insane for him. Kufufufu, isn't he sweet?


	3. Chapter Two

**Chapter Two**

It would be wise to say that Tsuna was very, very confused. There was a string of "unknown" whacking to "death" going on around the school from the morning, up until lunchtime. What was odd about it was…if Hibari WAS at the school, why had he not attacked him? Gokudera had said that Hibari had lost his nerve earlier, but that couldn't be the case! If he had, he wouldn't be beating up everyone who had broken the rules!

"Haha, calm down, Tsuna!" Yamamoto said handing him a bento another random girl had given him. "I'm sure everything will be fine. You and Gokudera haven't been called to his office yet, so no worries."

No worries? That was easy to say when you didn't have the Reaper breathing down your back.

"Che, just ignore that bastard. If he bothers you, I'll teach him a lesson, Tenth."

Tsuna wanted to believe his friends could save him, he really did! But it wasn't good to rely on them whenever Hibari was involved. The last time he did, they all almost got knocked out…permanently by how angry Hibari had been. Thankfully, Reborn had come to his rescue, though he had done it for an ulterior motive.

"Aren't you worried, Gokudera-kun? I mean…you were late too, so that means he'd whack you as well."

"Of course not! I have things all planned out, Tenth!" Gokudera grinned widely. "You see…I did a diagram of what I'd do if Hibari did attack us." Without another word, he took out a crinkled sheet of paper covered in smudge marks.

Tsuna and Yamamoto leaned in, staring at the picture. It was overly complicated and full of math problems that Tsuna couldn't dream of ever figuring out. The only things he could really make out of the whole thing was the stick figure throwing a rectangle towards another stick figure.

"Maa, that's a nice picture, Gokudera."

"Shut up, baseball idiot! It's not a picture! It's called tactics!"

Yamamoto rubbed the back of his head as he leaned away. "But if that's tactics, it doesn't seem all that hard. I mean, the stick man is throwing a baseball towards his target right?"

"WHAT THE HELL?!" Gokudera stood up, slamming his hands on his desk. All the students in the classroom looked in his direction nervously. "Dammit, this doesn't involve baseball!"

Yamamoto chuckled, waving his hands back and forth. "I was just kidding, Gokudera. I know what the diagram means."

Tsuna sweatdropped. If Hibari didn't kill him, he was sure his friends would accidently murder him somehow.

Gokudera frowned, as if unsure that Yamamoto really did understand it, before sitting back down and beaming at Tsuna. The mood swing would have taken him aback if he had not grown accustomed to Gokudera by now. "So, no worries, Tenth! I got your back!"

When it seemed the danger had passed, the students all went back to conversing, ignoring the three boys who were huddled around a crinkly sheet of paper with smudge marks.

"Ah…you don't have to worry about me, really, Gokudera-kun! I'm sure things will be fine today."

"Not with the way Hibari is knocking everyone around," Gokudera frowned, doodling on his diagram.

"Hmm…I wonder why? I mean, he's not usually this violent…"

Yamamoto dipped his chopsticks into his bento, taking out some sushi. "Maybe he's frustrated about something?"

Tsuna and Gokudera both looked at him with widened eyes. That actually sorta made sense!

"Eh? Frustrated? About what?" Tsuna asked, leaning closer.

Yamamoto shrugged, sticking the sushi in his mouth and chewing happily.

"Dammit, for once I thought you had said something smart…" Gokudera growled.

"I think this is more common sense than smarts, Gokudera," Yamamoto chuckled, rubbing the back of his head when he received a fierce glare. "I mean, doesn't Hibari always do the same pattern all the time?"

"A…pattern?" Tsuna blinked. Now that Yamamoto mentioned it…Hibari DID have a pattern. He usually was somewhat lenient on people when he was in a good mood, scaring his victims more than actually physically hurting them (though he did sometimes hurt them anyway, but less violent than usual). When he was in a bad mood though…it was best to steer clear of him and let him do whatever he wanted. "But that doesn't explain why he skipped over me and Gokudera-kun."

Yamamoto smiled. "Nope, it doesn't."

Gokudera crossed his arms. "So, what are you saying, baseball idiot? We should figure out WHY Hibari is in such a bad mood?"

"Maa, I didn't say that!" Yamamoto said nervously, waving his hands back and forth. "I just said that he's probably upset about something and doesn't know any other way to cope with it except for hurting anyone around him."

Is that was the case, then…why was he upset? What had upset him? And better yet, why was Tsuna and Gokudera still breathing? "I have to admit that after thinking about this more…I'm curious to find out why…" Tsuna said, staring at the curried rice in his bento. He had been so hungry earlier…but now he couldn't bring himself to eat anything.

"So you want to make this a mission or something, Tenth? Because if that's the case I will proudly follow you!"

"EH?! N-No! That's not what I meant! I just…I…want to know what's wrong. I mean, what if Hibari is like this for the whole week? Can you imagine the fear that would spread throughout the school?"

Gokudera and Yamamoto looked at each other nervously. No one wanted to think about it, but…if Hibari was indeed this angry now it was only natural that his anger would continue for the whole week, or even weeks depending on how severe the issue was. Judging by the swarms of students winding up in the infirmary, it was obvious this would extend until probably another week or so.

"So, what do you want us to do, Tsuna?" Yamamoto asked, frowning slightly as he placed his chopsticks back into his almost empty bento.

"Um…" Tsuna blinked. "Uh…well, we can ask the Committee members if something is bothering Hibari-san. I mean...there's a chance they won't say anything, but it doesn't hurt to ask, right?"

"Brilliant, Tenth!" Gokudera gushed enthusiastically. "Such a basic plan, but I'm sure it will work out!"

Tsuna smiled. Gokudera's enthusiasm could be so contagious sometimes. "Thank you, Gokudera-kun. I hope they can tell us something…I really want Hibari-san happy again." If only for the fact the he wouldn't be so tyrannical, Tsuna wanted to say, but he decided to keep that bit of information to himself.

"Tenth…you're so kind," Gokudera whispered. "That dictator bastard doesn't deserve any sort of kindness from you."

Tsuna sweatdropped, starting to fell uncomfortable with all the attention now focused on him. "Probably…but I don't like seeing people upset."

"Well, if that plan doesn't work," Yamamoto began, "we can always spy on him."

"Is that…even possible?" Tsuna asked. Hibari could practically smell when people were near him. What if he found out that they were following him around and watching his every move? He'd "bite them to death" for sure! Not to mention he'd be twice as angry as he was now! Tsuna shuddered in terror. Just then, a dreadful thought filled his head.

_Hibari was playing with them._

That was the only thing he could think of. Maybe Hibari was trying to give them false hope before he got to Tsuna and Gokudera?! It wasn't beyond him to have that kind of malevolence after all. He had toyed with people countless times before he swooped in and got them by the end of the day. Come to think of it, Hibari had done this before too. He had disappeared for a certain amount of time during the day, and would come back when people's guards were let down so he could "smite" them with his tonfas. However, what bothered Tsuna…was the fact that though this pattern had indeed been done before, not so many people had been thrown in the infirmary…

"Ah, Tsuna, are you all right?" Yamamoto asked, putting another piece of sushi in his mouth and watching him carefully. "You haven't eaten anything yet, and lunch is almost over."

Tsuna instantly snapped out of his woeful thoughts and blushed slightly. "Ah, sorry about that, Yamamoto. I was just thinking…"

"I hope it was nothing negative," he said with a gentle smile. "Thinking negative can spoil a perfectly good meal."

"Hm? You're right! I need to stop thinking about this and focus on eating!" Tsuna declared, grabbing his chopsticks and happily digging into his curry. Yamamoto and Gokudera both nodded and smiled.

Despite what he had said, Tsuna was still quite nervous. This was not something that could easily be forgotten. He wanted to tell his friends his thoughts, but…he was too afraid that he might end up making them worry more than they already were. They might have smiled and told him all was well, but he could tell that beneath that nonchalance, they were both pretty nervous themselves.

"Reborn…what have you gotten me into now?" Tsuna whispered, bringing the curried rice to his mouth and slowly chewing.

* * *

Operation "Spy on Hibari" went underway as soon as math class with Yotsuba-sensei was over. Tsuna was unsure of how they were supposed to do this "operation", but Gokudera and Yamamoto seemed immensely pleased with it…for one reason or another.

"How about we split up?" Yamamoto said. "I can't stay long and help since I have baseball practice, but I'll try to do my best!"

"Che, for once I agree with you, baseball freak. Tenth, I think splitting up would be faster, but…if you want…" Tsuna knew exactly where Gokudera was going with that.

"Don't worry about me!" he said, waving his hands back and forth. "I can take care of myself. Besides, Namimori is one of the safest schools…despite Hibari-san. So, I'll be fine!" Tsuna kept the fact that he had a bad feeling about splitting up from his two friends to himself. Perhaps he was being paranoid? It wasn't rare for him to feel that way after all. Thanks to a certain hitman and many people who wanted to kill him, severely maim him, or "possess" his body, paranoia was a perfectly normal thing to feel.

Gokudera frowned, looking a bit anxious, but Yamamoto smiled widely and laughed. "All right, Tsuna! If you need us, just call really loud, ok?"

Tsuna sweatdropped. Call really loud? Would that really make them come running?

"Tenth…don't hesitate to call for help if something happens." Gokudera looked so serious, that it was honestly making Tsuna more apprehensive than he should have felt. What was with these two today? Sure Hibari was on a rampage, but it wasn't as if he was going to be murdered on the school grounds. After all…Hibari didn't like getting blood on Namimori…

"Ah, both of you stop worrying! I'll be all right! Let's hurry and get this over with before Yamamoto has to go to practice."

Gokudera and Yamamoto nodded.

"First we'll question the Committee members. Someone's bound to know why Hibari-san is angry…um…after that, I guess we'll have to spy on him."

"All right, Tenth. I'm sure this will work out."

To tell the truth, Tsuna wasn't so sure it would. There were so many holes in this plan, and so many things that could go wrong…but Gokudera would have said something if it was impossible. Then again, the silver haired boy would jump off a mountain for him if he told him to…

Silently he watched as the both of his friends went in opposite directions in the hallway. Unsure of where to go, Tsuna decided to stroll down the path Yamamoto took. Normally one would head off to the Discipline Committee's room to see if anyone was inside, but the thought of bumping into Hibari on the way there was too much for him. Tsuna had approximately two hours before he would be promptly chased off the school campus, so he'd have to make the best of the time given to him.

The further he went down the hallway, the more his heart started to fill with dread. He had such a bad feeling right now…like something horrible was about to happen. However, that could not be the case at all. What was there to worry about? There were still students in the hallway, so…all was well. If Hibari had been anywhere near a twenty feet radius, the students would have sensed it and ran off. Still…something didn't feel right.

Tsuna stopped and sighed, leaning against a window. He really needed to relax. All this panicking and over-worrying wasn't doing much to help him. With a small sigh, he looked up at the ceiling. Would he ever know what was wrong with Hibari? He honestly hoped it wasn't because of him that the older boy was so furious.

Tsuna shook his head fiercely. _Of course it's not me! _he thought. Why would it be? He hadn't even spoken to Hibari for a while, unless you counted the time that he was beaten up by him for messing up the school grounds due to Reborns "training." Other than that, he had been pretty distant.

"Sawada, loitering in the hallway is prohibited."

Acting on instinct, Tsuna instantly tensed up. Slowly his eyes traveled over to Kusakabe, who was regarding him with a sort of boredom that came from being one of the toughest fighters in the school. "Uh…s-sorry, Kusakabe-san."

"Just don't do it again," the older boy said, continuing his trek down the almost deserted hallway.

"AH! Wait, Kusakabe-san! Can I ask you a question?"

The boy stopped, looking over his shoulder.

"Um…is something wrong with, Hibari-san? He seems angry today…"

"May I ask the reason for this question, Sawada?" Kusakabe said politely, or at least it sounded that way.

"Erm…a lot of the students have been put in the infirmary today…so I thought that maybe he was angry."

Kusakabe frowned, as if bothered by the question. Unsure of whether that was a sign to shut up or keep going, Tsuna gulped and started playing with the ends of his vest.

"He's been bored, and it seems he's been taking that boredom out on everyone else."

Tsuna blinked. Was that all? Hibari was BORED? So there was no deep meaning to his disappearance this morning, or the fact that people were getting knocked out every two seconds? "What about this morning? I was…erm, I know someone who was late today, but Hibari-san didn't attack them."

"He's biding his time."

"B-Biding his time?!" Tsuna could feel a panic attack coming. So he had been right! Hibari was going to get him and Gokudera after all! But…if that was the case if he left the school right now…

"He tends to change up when he's going to discipline someone. It makes things a little more interesting. Why are you so worried, Sawada?"

"Um…" Tsuna gulped. "Well…"

An explosion outside instantly ruined whatever else Tsuna was going to say. Quickly, he turned towards the window behind him, and what he saw made his heart leap into his throat.

"Gokudera-kun!" he screamed, taking off down the hallway as fast as his legs could take him.

**

* * *

****Author's note:** I typed this at school. xD I was supposed to be working on another essay...but...cough Rofl, my friends think I'm trying to kill Tsuna from shock. Pssh, if he dies what will Hibari-san do?! ;A;

Anywho, tell me what you think! Criticism is always awesome...especially since I tend to ramble on and on in anything...like now...-shields face from an angry Hibird-


	4. Chapter Three

**Chapter Three**

"Gokudera-kun!" Tsuna screamed again, as he ran towards his fallen friend. Surrounding him was a smog of smoke, and a few small craters now and then from when his dynamites had gone off. Tsuna could only imagine what was running through the other student's minds at this moment.

"T-Tenth…" Gokudera uttered, trying his best to push himself off the ground. In the end though, he only succeeded in making his wounds worse.

"Gokudera-kun! Don't move! You'll just open up the wounds more!" Tsuna admonished, going down on one knee and gently placing his hands on his friend's shoulders.

"Sorry, Tenth…I tried to get that bastard…"

"I told you that we were just going to see what was wrong with him! I didn't say anything about fighting!"

Gokudera winced at his tone. "It wasn't my fault. He's the one who started it…"

"Eeeeeh?!"

"That is correct, Sawada."

Tsuna instantly froze. There was only one person he knew with such a smooth, cold voice. He wanted to look up, but fear told him to keep his head down. It was like he was a small rabbit, about to look up into the cold eyes of the wolf who was about to eat him. The thought terrified him even more. What really got to him though was the fact that he had completely ignored Hibari when he saw Gokudera's prone body lying on the ground.

"Hm? No manners, Sawada? It seems I'll have to discipline you."

"GAH! N-No that's not necessary, Hibari-san!" he barked, standing up as quickly as he could. Doing this made him lose his balance though, and he almost fell over on his rear. Thankfully, Gokudera, despite his wounds, stopped his fall by placing his hand on his back. Tsuna could tell that this action literally sapped whatever energy Gokudera had left, because when the silver haired boy looked back up at Hibari, he seemed twice as tired.

"Bastard…don't talk to the Tenth like that! As a subordinate you should learn some fucking manners," Gokudera snarled, glaring daggers at Hibari despite the fact he was clearly no match for him if the older boy were to suddenly attack.

"Wao, you have some nerve, herbivore," Hibari's eyes narrowed. "Were you not disciplined enough? Apparently my blows were a bit too soft."

Quickly, Tsuna covered Gokudera's mouth with his hand. Why couldn't the boy just keep his mouth shut?! It was nice that he was so willing to go to the ends of the earth for him, but to speak so badly to Hibari was a death wish in itself. "He didn't mean it, Hibari-san!"

"Oh? Is that so?"

Tsuna nodded. He had the powerful urge to close his eyes so he couldn't see the fury radiating off Hibari, but doing that would more than likely earn him a whack for having bad manners…even though Hibari himself was not exactly polite.

"You're both an eyesore," Hibari stated plainly as he raised his tonfas. "I suppose I'll have to bite the both of you to death. You, Sawada, for interfering, and you, puppy, for being annoying and damaging school grounds."

Tsuna could hear Gokudera growl and mutter a few curse words from behind his hand, but thankfully Hibari couldn't fully hear what he had to say. If he had…

"W-Wait, Hibari-san!" Tsuna wailed. Though the boy was terrified beyond belief, and didn't want to get whacked upside the cranium with pure steel, there was no way he was just going to leave Gokudera there to be bitten to death! "You've already punished, Gokudera-kun enough!" What brought Tsuna to scream those four words was beyond him, especially since those words earned him a fierce whack on the side. Groaning in pain, his hand that had been covering Gokudera's mouth instantly went to the wounded area, and he fell on his knees.

"Don't tell me what to do, Sawada," Hibari growled softly, his grip even tighter on his tonfas. "Apparently, you assume that because I'm apart of your idiotic group, that I am a herbivore as well."

"N-No…that's not it…" Tsuna gasped. Why did the older boy have to be so difficult? And where was he getting these assumptions?!

"T-Tenth!" Gokudera barked, reaching into his shirt for more dynamites. Judging by the gleam in his eyes, there was going to be no stopping the silver haired Mafioso now.

Hibari smirked as if happy he was being challenged again, and slowly raised one of his tonfas in the air again. It seemed to gleam in the bright sunlight like a sword right before--

"Hibari, don't you think this is boring?" came the usual voice of a certain baby Mafioso.

If Tsuna had not been so used to Reborn's random appearances with unusual cosplay type clothing, he would have had a heart attack when he saw the baby pop out the ground in front of Gokudera dressed in what he assumed to be grass.

"Hm? Not really, baby. Is there something you want? I'm busy right now."

"I see that." Reborn smiled. "However, you seem to be wasting your time on these two when there are bigger problems going on right now."

Tsuna blinked. There were bigger problems? _What was bigger than this?! _he thought as he looked around at the small craters in the ground and an annoyed Hibari standing a few feet in front of him.

"What are these 'problems', baby?" Hibari asked, but it was obvious that his patience was on a thin string.

"It seems Kokuyo is causing problems again. They spray painted something in front of the school."

The utter rage that radiated off Hibari was enough to probably burn down the whole school if he had wanted it to. Without another word, he turned, and stalked off towards the front of the school, sharp spikes popping out of his usual sleek steel tonfas.

_Hiiii!_ Tsuna thought with a mixture of sympathy and horror. _I hope those kids can get away!_

When Hibari was a good distance away, Reborn turned to address him with a small frown. "No-Good-Tsuna, it seems I have to train you more."

"B-B-But…!"

"Not buts. You should be lucky Kokuyo decided to cause trouble today, or you and Gokudera would be out of commission."

Now that Reborn mentioned it, Gokudera had been very quiet since the baby had appeared. Slowly Tsuna looked over at his friend and gasped when he noticed that he was passed out on the ground. "G-Gokudera-kun!" he exclaimed, gently placing his hands on him and shaking his prone body.

"If you're unable to protect your subordinates, or even get to a location on time, then there's something I'm doing wrong."

Tsuna sweatdropped. He had forgotten all about his tardiness. It was odd that Hibari didn't bring that up as a reason to torture both him and Gokudera. Did the boy forget on purpose? No, that couldn't be it. Hibari had an excellent memory when it came to dates and times and anything of that sort. He would remember exactly what time the two of them had been late, and exactly what time they had made it to class. "Reborn…"

"I don't want to hear it. When you get home, get ready for more training. Don't take too long to come back either," the baby said, promptly plopping back in the spot he had been in front of Gokudera. Timidly, Tsuna reached for the grass and attempted to move it, but it had somehow gone back to being normal grass.

_Scary! _he thought, his face paling.

"Tsuna! Gokudera! Are the both of you all right?" Yamamoto called, running over to the both of them with a speed that made Tsuna wonder if he was really human at all and not some super soldier.

"I…I'm fine!" Tsuna lied. "Gokudera's the one I'm worried about."

Yamamoto went down on one knee, checking on the boy. "Maa, it seems Hibari wasn't in too bad a mood today. Usually it looks worse than this." He had said that so happily that Tsuna couldn't help but sweatdrop. Honestly, how could Yamamoto smile and speak so cheerily when there was a horribly bruised person passed out on the ground?!

"We'll just take him to the infirmary. It doesn't close until later today, so things should work out."

_Because most of the kids are probably still in there, _Tsuna thought. "All right, Yamamoto. Um…I'll need help carrying him to…" he trailed off when he saw the tall boy lift Gokudera up and throw him gently over his shoulders as if he weight only ten pounds.

"Hm? Did you say something, Tsuna?"

"Um…n-no…" he lied again. What was Yamamoto eating?!

Yamamoto laughed, rubbing the back of his head. "All right, if you say so."

With one more glance at the carnage left behind by Gokudera and Hibari, Tsuna grimaced as he stood up and followed Yamamoto. He honestly hoped that the boy didn't zoom in on the fact that he was walking a little slower. The tall boy may not have been too sharp about a lot of things (or at least he seemed that way), but he was good at picking up on nonverbal cues.

As they both stepped into the school and down the hallway towards the infirmary, Yamamoto brought up the dreaded question. "Maa…you seem to be walking a little slower, Tsuna. Are you sure you're fine?"

"Ah, don't worry! Hibari just hit me a little, but he held back…" Or at least Tsuna would like to think so. His tonfa didn't hurt as much as it usually did when he got hit. So…maybe that was a warning whack? If Hibari had been serious, Tsuna was sure his rib would have been cracked, no doubt about that.

"Hm? He held back? That's strange…" Yamamoto said, frowning slightly. It was never a good thing when the boy frowned.

"A-Ah…it is…" It was strange, but Tsuna didn't care. He had been spared from being hurt too badly. Gokudera was the one who took most of the damage, probably because of his mouth and the fact that he did damage to Namimori school grounds.

"Um, Yamamoto...earlier when Hibari-san attacked Gokudera-kun, he didn't do it because he was late. He did it for another reason…"

Yamamoto rubbed his head and stopped in front of the infirmary. "Eh? That's really, really odd, Tsuna. He didn't bring up anything about him being late at all? Or you for that matter?"

Tsuna shook his head.

The frown on his face seemed became deeper, making Yamamoto appear older, and much wiser than he let on. Was there something he knew that Tsuna didn't? Was there something wrong with Hibari not trying to murder them because of that? There were so many unanswered questions running through Tsuna's head that he was sure he'd have a nightmare about it…that is if Reborn let him sleep through his new training regime.

As soon as they entered the infirmary, a very flustered nurse took one glance at Gokudera and pointed towards the only vacant bed in the office.

"That Kyoya boy is so violent. I wish I could tell the School Board about this, but they'd just ignore me. Ah well…at least he does keep this school somewhat safe…" the nurse grumbled, digging in the cabinets for some medical supplies.

Tsuna wasn't sure if he was supposed to say something back to her, so he decided to just keep his words to himself. Besides, Yamamoto didn't say anything either as he gently lied Gokudera down on the infirmary's soft white sheets.

The two boys watched as the nurse began to get started on treating Gokudera's wounds with gentle efficiency. She had been so gentle when cleaning up the cuts on the silver haired Mafioso, that Tsuna thought it would only be right to tell her a simple two letter word. "Thank you."

The nurse looked at him briefly and smiled. "You're very welcome. You're the first person to tell me this today."

Tsuna couldn't help but blush. Now that he paid attention, the nurse was very pretty. She wasn't a super model or anything, but she wasn't unattractive either. Her dark brown hair was put in a simple bun, but that hairstyle seemed to match her very well.

"Um, I thought Dr. Shamal was working here," Tsuna said in an urge to ignore the pained groans from Hibari's victims as well as an attempt to get a very dark blush to disappear from his face.

"Ugh, that useless man. He was being a total nuisance so I sent him on his way. Honestly, what sort of doctor only treats women?"

_The perverted kind, _Tsuna thought.

"Anyway, judging by the wounds your friend has, he should be out for an hour or so. He'll be in pain once he's up though, but he's better off than some of the other students in here," the nurse said with a sigh as she stood up to throw away the soiled cotton balls she had.

While Tsuna watched her go about her business tending to the other hurt students, a thought suddenly struck him. "Um, Yamamoto, shouldn't you be at practice?"

Yamamoto blinked and looked up at the clock hanging on the wall. "AH! You're right! Oh well…I'm sure I can explain to the coach about what happened. He'll understand."

Tsuna smiled. Good ol' Yamamoto! Always so reliable! "Thank you, Yamamoto. I didn't want to leave Gokudera-kun here all alone…"

"All alone? You're not staying?"

"No…I need to go home and get this weird training that Reborn was talking about out of the way. If I show up later…I have a bad feeling something good won't happen."

"Training? Ah, have fun then!" Yamamoto beamed completely ignoring the last part of Tsuna's words. "I'm sure it'll be something exciting!"

Tsuna sweatdropped. Yamamoto didn't know the half of it.

"Ah, and be a bit careful. You're hurt, so don't push yourself too hard," Yamamoto said happily, his honey brown eyes twinkling with merriment.

With a small smile, Tsuna nodded at him and left the infirmary. He honestly hoped that Reborn didn't do anything too extreme to him. That aside, what was this about Kokuyo causing trouble? They hadn't done that since the incident with Mukuro. Most of the kids ran away and refused to go back to the school after the whole mess.

_GAH!_ Tsuna thought fiercely as he ran his hands through his poofy brown hair. _No more thinking!_ _I just need to focus on surviving Reborn's training!_

Despite what he told himself, his brain still continued to go on overload, even as he left the school and cautiously made his way back to his house. The day wasn't even over yet, but he still had a nagging feeling in the back of his mind that things were just going to get worse…

**

* * *

****Author's note** – Lol, Doctor Shamal is so useless despite being an obvious genius in the medical world. All that aside, oh no! Poor Gokudera-kun! Hibari sure is violent isn't he? Hmm…and why was Kokuyo at Tsuna's school in the first place? Questions, questions…

All that aside, a BIG thanks to everyone who reviewed! Thank you guys so much! It's because of you that I'm working so hard on this. I wish there was a way I could repay you guys. Maybe I can like shower the best reviewer with art? Lol, that's like the only thing I'm good at I'm afraid.

AH! And homg over 760k hits! That's like wow to me. o.o –sparkles with joy-


	5. Chapter Four

**Just a quick message: **Lol! Your reviews make me chuckle, CAW. xD

**Chapter Four**

"Tsu-kun! You're home earlier than usual," Tsuna heard his mother say to him as he stepped into the house. Everything seemed normal for the most part. There were no booby traps lined on the sidewalk as he had walked home, nor did his house look like an insane obstacle course.

"Ah, yes. I need to study hard for a test," he lied, feeling sort of guilty for telling his mother that, but…he couldn't tell her that Reborn was going to torture him! Not that she'd believe him anyway. For the most part, she was quite a gullible person.

"Aww, my dear, Tsu-kun!" she gushed, practically sparkling with joy. "I'm so glad you've been working harder lately! Even getting involved with sports!"

Tsuna sweatdropped. She was still buying that lie that Ryohei had come up with a while ago? Then again…Kyoko bought the lie too, so… "Heh, y-yes! I'm glad you're happy, Mom!" he said with a large smile as he tried to sneak upstairs before anyone decided to challenge that story.

"I'll make you something to eat, Tsu-kun!" she called as soon as he made it towards his room.

"Ah, you don't have to, mom!" Tsuna shouted, but he knew his words flew over his mothers head. She was always making him something to eat as soon as he got home, even if he begged her to stop.

With a caution he had to learn over time through countless random attacks from Lambo, I-Pin, and Reborn, Tsuna slowly opened the door, sticking his head in and quickly looking around. The room was empty…but looks could be deceiving…

"About time, No-Good-Tsuna!" Reborn shouted, flying side kicking him in the head, forcing Tsuna to fall forward on his face with a thump.

"OOF! R-Reborn! You don't have to keep doing that!" he whined, getting off the ground and rubbing his nose. He was surprised that it wasn't broken by now with all the times he had fallen face first on his hard wooden floor.

"You take forever to get anything done."

"I had to make sure Gokudera-kun was all right!"

Reborn ignored him, hopping over to his bed and patting it. "Come sit down, Tsuna. I have something I want to show you."

Tsuna blanched. That didn't sound good at all. Reborn had something to show him? Probably something painful no doubt! "Um…"

"Hurry up."

Though he really, _really_ didn't want to go anywhere near the evil little hitman, Tsuna knew there was no point in delaying the inevitable. With a gulp, he slowly walked over to the bed and tentively sat down near the edge. If things got rough, maybe he could make a mad dash for the door.

Reborn watched him blankly for a while before reaching under Tsuna's covers and procuring a small, thin book with the words, _How to tame a skylark _printed in gold letters on the dark brown cover. "Here you go. This is your training."

"Re…Reading a book…?"

"That's right."

"A book…about skylarks, Reborn?" Tsuna asked with a frown. All he got for an answer from Reborn was a smirk. For some reason, that made him nervous.

"A mafia boss should be well versed in all sorts of things."

"But a book about skylarks, Reborn? Why do I need to know how to tame them? You don't even see them in Namimori!"

"There's a skylark here; a very territorial one at that."

Tsuna blinked. There were skylarks in the city? He thought that birds like that preferred to be away from people; somewhere where they could lay their eggs in peace and not have to worry about children poking them with sticks or loud noises from trucks and cars? "Reborn, there aren't any skylarks here! And you still haven't answered my question about why I need to tame them!"

Reborn frowned. "I told you."

"No you didn't! You just said a mafia boss needs to be well versed in all sorts of things!"

"And that's what I meant."

Tsuna had the strong urge to tear his hair out of his head at that very moment. What was Reborn going on about?! Out of all the insane things he made him do, this had to be one of the most insane! There was no logic in it! None at all! At least with all the other crazy things he made him do there was a point to it, some hidden profound lesson that he found out right at the end when all the chaos had ended. "Reborn…!"

"Just read it, No-Good-Tsuna," Reborn replied, giving him a hard pinch before he promptly left the room.

"Oww!" Tsuna grumbled, rubbing the pink mark left by the little hitman. Reborn was always so abusive to him. With a loud sigh, he set about to looking at this stupid book that the baby had lent him. As soon as he opened it, he was at a loss for words. Tsuna honestly could not believe what he was seeing. Perhaps his eyes were playing a trick on him? That would have been a lot more believable that the five words on the first page; the ONLY words at that.

_Skylarks are hard to tame. _

Tsuna blinked before falling backwards on his bed from shock, wincing slightly at the dull pain that stabbed his side. Was that ALL?! Well what was the point in the really large book then? Reborn's eccentricity was awe-inspiring sometimes. How was he supposed to learn anything from this book when it only had one sentence?! It wasn't even a good sentence at that!

Reborn was really pulling his chain today, and he didn't like it one bit. What had made the little baby so vindictive today was beyond him, as well as exceedingly frustrating. Without another word, Tsuna got off his bed, and stomped downstairs. "Reborn!" he called, looking around in case of another random attack.

"Bwahaha! Does Tsuna need help finding Reborn?!"

Tsuna sighed. There was only one person in the whole house with such an obnoxiously loud voice and laugh. "No, that's all right, Lambo. Have you seen him?" he asked.

Lambo rubbed his chin with a hand that seemed to be smudged with jelly. He looked so serious that Tsuna knew he HAD to know something. "Nope."

"W-What?! But he just came downstairs!"

"No he didn't," Lambo said with a grin, placing his hands on his hips.

"But he had to have come through here!"

"Bwahaha! Tsuna's going crazy!" Lambo continued to laugh as he ran around him singing 'crazy Tsuna' over and over again.

Tsuna grumbled, walking past the little baby in the cow suit. Where was I-Pin when he needed her? At least she was fairly mature for a little girl…a lot more mature than Lambo anyway. As quietly as he could, Tsuna stuck his head into the kitchen, looking around. Reborn didn't seem to be in here either. Where the hell did he go?!

"Ah! Tsu-kun, just in time!" Nana said happily, sitting three pork buns on the table. "Sorry they may be a little cold. Lambo wanted a jelly sandwich, so I had to make it for him."

Tsuna smiled and sat down at the table. Well, he could fill his stomach up more before resuming his search. After all, Reborn couldn't have been that far. The baby had only left for a few minutes. Maybe this was a test of some kind? Yes, that most definitely must have been the case!

As soon as Tsuna attempted to bite into his pork bun, it mysteriously disappeared in his hand. "EH?!" he gasped, pushing his chair away from the table in shock. Whatever fear he had disappeared though, when the person in question appeared before him with his usual cat-like smirk and beady black eyes.

"REBORN!" Tsuna screamed, eyes bulging out of his head in terror.

"That's right, No-Good-Tsuna. You really need to pay more attention to your surroundings," he said, taking a large bite out of his pork bun.

Tsuna opened his mouth to argue, but realized he'd only be wasting his time. "Reborn, what was with the book? There's only one sentence in it!"

Reborn's smirk grew as he took another bite. "Really? I'm very sure there were more words."

"There aren't!" Tsuna snapped in frustration. Enough was enough! He was tired of being picked on and harassed! It was fine every now and then, but Reborn had been bothering him all day! It was like the little baby was purposely trying to drive him insane.

"Did you go past the first page?"

Tsuna was silent. There were more words? He sighed. His head was really starting to hurt now.

"Stupid, Tsuna, a mafia boss has to be willing to be more observational. You fail again," Reborn said, pinching Tsuna's arm for the second time that day. This time though, he pinched a lot harder than he had done earlier.

"O-OWW! Reborn! Stoooop!" he wailed, rubbing his arm.

Reborn simply stared at him with his usual mischievous smirk still glued on his face. However, his black eyes seemed to sparkle with twisted amusement that only he could feel.

Rubbing his arm, Tsuna grabbed the two pork buns in an urge to save them from the evil baby; wincing when he thought Reborn was going to side kick him in the head, or smack his hand with a random cane that Leon oh so happened to decide to turn into. The little hitman just watched him as he took a slow bite out of one of them.

"Reborn, I've been meaning to ask you…why was Kokuyo at our school? I thought that most of the kids ran away…"

"They did. I got Mukuro to lend his assistance in driving Hibari away. I couldn't have him murder my student, especially in front of the school."

Tsuna sweatdropped. Well, at least Reborn cared. "How…did you get Mukuro to help? He's usually difficult. Chrome I can understand, but he's a whole different story…"

"Oh, I gave him an offer he couldn't refuse." Reborn's eyes twinkled again, but there was no amusement in them, there was nothing but pure evil, or at least to Tsuna those eyes were evil.

"W-What did you offer him, Reborn?!"

"No-Good-Tsuna, it's nothing to worry over," he replied. "So just relax."

Tsuna couldn't relax! Reborn had to offer Mukuro something big to catch his attention like that. The man was always avoiding his duties, refusing to partake in most of the mafia related activities. It was usually Chrome he did all the things he didn't want to, and she did them with utmost loyalty that Tsuna's couldn't comprehend.

"Anyway, shouldn't you be studying?" Reborn said, hopping off the table after he kicked Tsuna hand, forcing him to drop one of his pork buns.

"Oww! Reborn!"

Quickly before Tsuna could pick the bun up, Reborn scooped it up, and moved towards the open door of the kitchen with a slow stroll, knowing that Tsuna would not dare attempt to stop him. "Thank you for the pork buns, Mama."

"Hm?" Nana looked over her shoulder, busy trying to clean dishes that undoubtedly accumulated due to Lambo's gigantic appetite. "Oh, you're welcome, Reborn! I'm so glad that Tsu-kun was willing to share with you."

Tsuna sighed. He didn't share! Dictator Reborn had just sort of snatched up what he wanted! "Ah…I'm glad I could make him happy..."

Nana beamed and went back to working.

While his mother was busy, Tsuna sulked at the table for a while, mulling over all the insanity that had happened to him that day. First Reborn made him late for school, which caused Hibari to…well, Hibari didn't remember apparently, but Gokudera had gotten beaten up by the angry upper classman. Second, he called for Mukuro to be a distraction so Tsuna wouldn't wind up with a massive concussion and many broken bones, and then the little baby gave him a weird book that he called "training." What was going on? What was Reborn trying to do? Was this another one of his "let's make the family closer" tests?

With the largest smile he could muster despite his chaotic thoughts, he bid his mom goodbye and left for his room. He really did wish he knew what Reborn was planning. For some reason, Tsuna's uneasiness grew, even as he walked into his room and collapsed on his bed. He'd study later. For now, he just wanted to go to sleep. That was probably the only way he was going to escape Reborn's torture.

_I hope tomorrow isn't as crazy as today, _he thought as he slowly closed his eyes. If only he knew, that it was just going to get worse.

* * *

**Authors note: **Whew, well it took me forever to come up with this chapter. I know a lot of you are probably like, "homg get to the BL already, dammit!" Sorry guys, but love doesn't happen overnight…unless you're Gokudera. o.O Hibari's a bit more complex and difficult to understand in general. Kudos to Dino for being able to, rofl.

AH! Once again, thank you very much for the reviews guys! And yay thanks for all the alerts too! I'm so glad a lot of people are interested in this. Make sure you leave a review! It really does help me write faster. It also tells me what you guys like or what you want to happen -hint, hint- xD

Oh, and I did random art for this…mainly so my friends would stop harassing me. x.x Here's the link in case anyone is interested…

shihouka. deviantart. com/art/How-to-Tame-A-Skylark-Title-98393960

Just get rid of the spaces in it, add the http thingy, and the link should work.


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